Stereo microphones are known which can be connected to mobile devices, such as for example smartphones and tablets, for the stereo shooting of sounds, optionally in association with images.
According to conventional stereo shooting technique, such microphones have two sound transducing cartridges that transmit distinct audio information streams, each of which is intended to be played by a different speaker. During audio shooting and capture, such cartridges must be placed one on the right and one on the left with respect to the sound source, so as to reproduce in the recording the characteristic of human hearing of being able to distinguish the origin of sounds.
Mobile devices, in particular the already cited smartphones and tablets, have two operating modes: a vertical mode, known technically as “portrait”, in which the device is held so that its extension is vertical and which is used typically for audio shots, and a horizontal mode, technically known as “landscape”, in which the device is arranged so that its extension is horizontal and which is generally used for audio-video shots.
However, most currently known stereo microphones allow correct stereo shooting of sound only when the mobile device is in a vertical position, owing to the placement of the sound transducing cartridges.
In order to be able to obtain a stereo recording regardless of the operating mode of the mobile device, and therefore both for audio shots and for audio-video shots, it is in fact necessary to be able to orient the transducing cartridges with respect to the sound source.
For this purpose, orientable microphones are known in the background art in which there is a body for connection to the mobile device to which a spherical head is connected which supports the cartridges and can be oriented along two rotation axes, so as to be able to modify its placement as a function of the use of the device in portrait or landscape mode.
However, even this type of orientable stereo microphone is not devoid of drawbacks, including the fact that the stereo cartridge rotation mechanism is rather complicated and delicate, since the audio capture cartridges rotate separately with respect to the main body of the microphone, with a consequent less than optimum use for the user, who has to invest particular attention and care in using the device.
Furthermore, the controls and buttons for adjusting the microphone are arranged on the coupling body, which remains fixed with respect to the mobile device to which it is connected, and therefore always remain oriented in the same position, being difficult to read and maneuver for the user when the head is rotated.
Moreover, the spherical shape of the head entails a transverse space occupation of the microphone that is not negligible and is in any case greater than the mobile device.